Gas-engine



2.$heets Sheet 1.

D BEST GAS ENGINE.-

- No Model.)

Patented Oct. 18, 1892 y e M! .2 b e e h S m e h s 2 R m S m BE m nu (No Model.)

No. 484,727. PatentedOct; 18, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL BEST, OF SAN LEANDRO, CALIFORNIA,

GAS- E N GIN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 484,727, dated october 18, 1892. Application filed June 10,1891. Serial No. 395,811. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DANIEL BEST, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Leandro,

lameda county, State of California, have in- I 5 vented an Improvement in Gas-Engines, and

I hereby declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to certain improvements in engines which are propelled by the explosion of ail-inflammable vapor or gas and in which the piston moving in the engine cylinder first serves as a pump to draw a charge of the explosive gas or .vapor into the cylinder and after returning to compress the va-' por in the end of the cylinder is again propelled to the opposite end of the stroke by the ignition and explosion of the confined vapor.

It consists in details of construction, which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my machine. Fig. 2 is an end view, the cylinder-head being removed. Figs. 3 and 4 are details illustrating the two positions of the electrodes.

A is the cylinder of my engine.

B is the crank-shaft.

'A piston is fitted to reciprocate within the cylinder and has a piston-rod, a slide traveling upon guides, and a connecting-rod extending between said slide and the crank upon the shaftB, this being of the usual construction by which a rotary motion is communicated to'the crank-shaft.

D is a pipe leading from the reservo1rcontaining the gas or vaporor the material from whiclr it is generated.

E is a valve, which in the present case rs of the form known as -puppet-valve, and which is kept closed by means of a spring F, surrounding its stem and holdlngrt down upon its seat with a suflicient tension to prevent the passage of the gas or vaporexcept when cylinder from the inlet-pipe-and connecting, as in the former case, with the cylinder near its rear end.) 5 5 H is a puppet valve, which closes theexhanst-opening, this valve being held down upon its seat by a spring I, which keeps it closed when it is not otherwise acted upon. When this valve is keptopen,itwill be manitest that when the engine is running the reciprocations of the piston will simply draw air in through the exhaust pipe G and force it out again, the valve E, which supplies the explosive vapor, remaining closed at allsuch times. If, however, the valve H is temporarily closed, it will be manifest that; the movement of the piston will draw a charge of explosive. vaporthrough the pipe D and valve E into thecylinder, and the return of the pis- 7o tonwhile the valve H is still closed will com press thisgas between the piston and the end of the cylinder in the usual manner, and it is then exploded by an electrical device or iguitor, which will be hereinafter described. The valve H is then again opened to allow the exhaust of the waste products, and if the engine is running at too high a rate of speed it will remain open and nothing but air will be pumped intothe cylinder. and forced out So again until the speed-of the engine is reduced sufiiciently to allow the spring to again close the valve H after it is released from the gov erning mechanism.

Themechanism by which this valve is actnated is driven directly from the main shaft B, as follows: Upon the shaft B is fixed apinion J, and this engages with a correspondingly-toothed gear whee1 K, the diameter of which is such that the gear-wheel will make one revolution to each four strokes of the piston and corresponding revolutions of the engine shaft. Upon the shaft I. of this. gearwheel is fixed a double cam M, which revolve? with the shaft. 5

all other passages or openings into the cylinder are closed and the piston is moving toward the front end of the cylinder. At snch times the vacuum produced in the cylinder by the movement of the piston is suflicient to overcome the tension of the spring F. and allow the vapor or gas to pass through the valve and into the cyl nder.

Gis the exhaustpipeorpassag'e. Shown in the present case upon the opposite side of the N is a connecting-rod having an. antifrictional roller O'journaled at the rear end and projectipg to one side, so as to stand in line with the cams M, and when the rod is drawn into position so that the cams will engage the rec roller it will be moved backward at each contactwith the cams, there being two of the cam-points situated at opposite sides. It will be seen that under these conditions the con- 40 of its stroke.

2 ese ev.

just beneath the stem 1' of the valve H, and

' it will be manifest that the reciprocation of the connecting-rod N, produced by the ac tion of the cams M, will be communicated to the bell-crank lever P I and through it will act upon the valve-stem I, and at each movement will temporarily open the valve H, allowing the spring to close it again as the cams release the connecting-rod. The slot 7 in the rod N is of suincient diameterto'allow the shaft L to pass through it, and in the present case it serves as a guide, allowing 2c the connecting-rod N to be reciprocatedby the action of the cams; but I do not limit myself to this construction. When the engine is running slowly or at its normal speed,

the valve H being closed at the instant when the piston commences to move from the rear end of the cylinder, the piston will draw in a ,charge of gas or explosive vapor through the valve E, the vacuum produced by its movement overcoming the tension of the closingspring F, as before described. As the piston makes two reciprocations while the cam-shaft L is making a halt-revolution, it will be manifest that the'exhaust-valve will remain closed until the piston has returned and compressed the charge which has been drawn-into the endof the cylinder.- At the instant when the piston is ready to commence another stroke the electrical ignitor acts to ignite the charge and its explosion forces the piston to the end At this instant the exhaustvalve is opened by the action of one of the cams M and thewaste'products of combustion are discharged by the return of the piston to the rear end of the cyclinder, the valve 5 being instantly closed again by the action of the spring I as soon as the connectingrod N is released from the cam which has opened it. This operation continues as long as the-engine is running within the speed .to

which it is normally adjusted; but whenever it runs at too high a rate of speed the operation of the cams upon the valve is arrested in such a manner as to hold the exhaust-valve open and allow air to be pumped in and 5 forced out again by the movement of the engine-piston while the supply-valve at E re-- mains closed. This control is effected by a governor Rmhich may desired construction. Its stem connects with a pivoted swinging or movable arni'S, one end of which is fulcrumed at 'lsotliat thg' a'rm moves about the fulcrum and the other end is adapted to engage slug U, which projects from the reciprocating rod N. When the en gins is running loosely,the point of the pawl 8 is raised above the lug U and the reciprocation ofthe rod N and its connected parts he of any suitable or" blade.

is regularly produced by the action of the cams M, before described; but whenever the speed of the engine becomes too great the action of the governor pushes down the point of the pawl S until it engages the lug U. The position of this lug is such that when itis' drawn back far enough tobe engaged by the point'of the pawl'S the connecting-rod N will be held in such a position that the cams M cannot engage the roller 0, and consequently no reciprocation of therod N will.

occur, and the valve H will be held openby v the action of 'the bell-crank lever .upon its stem. This ,valve being heldopen, it will be manifest thatzair will be free to flow through the'exhaushpipe G, moving in and out with thereciprocations ofthe engine-piston, and

as no explosive gss-isadmitted while this takes place the speed of the engine and the governor will gradually-bereduced and the pawl S raised until it is :free of the lug U, when the spring I on the. valve-stem I will again actto close the valve H, at the same time drawi-ngithe connecting-rod N back to the point where the roller O may be engaged by the cams Maud the valve again operated in conjunction with. themovementsofthe piston, so as to allow explosive vapor to be drawn in through the supply-valve.

exhaust instead of the supply valve'I am en-i abled to regulate the speed'of my'en'ginewith 1 By this construction and the novel controlof th is admitted into the engine, I may employ any 1 suitable form of 7 electrical spark producing device. In the present case I have shown'a post at extending into the cylinder and having a point I)- projecting from one side; This point is insulated from the cylinder and is I connected with one of the conducting-wires from a battery convenientlysituated with rolation to the engine..- The other conducting-- wire is connected with an oscillating shalt c,

extending into the cylinder and similarly insulated from it. This shaft is caused to oscillate by means of an arm d','one end of which is fixed to the shaft and the other connected with axrod e. This rod 8 is connected with a crank upon the gear-whee1 K, and is thus caused to reciprocate in unison with the revolutions-of the gear K. As the gear K makes one revolution to four of'the crank shaft, it will be seen that this rod audits connecting devices will be reciprocated'in each direction at every second revolution of the crank-shaft, these revolutions. conforming to the admissions of the gas or explosive vapor into the cylinder. In order to produce a spark at each of these movements, I affix; to the upper end'of the shaft c a warped blade f, the end of which projects toward-the projecting pin b. This blade is made elastic and is twist ed, so as to stand at an angle, like a propeller- It will be. manifest that when there-- ciprocation of the connectinigrod and the oscil lation of the shaft 0 carries this blade in one direction its front edge will pass above the pin B, and its elasticity will allow it to move over the pin until its opposite edge passes the pin, producing a spark at that instant by breaking the connection through the battery and wires. When the shaft 0 oscillates in the opposite direction, the lower edge of this inclined elastic plate will pass beneath the pin 2), and as the upper edge leaves the pin a spark will again be produced. By this construction I am enabled to produce a spark for the ignition of the gas at each second revolution of the crank-shaft and at each end of the reciprocation of the rod, which is actuated by the gearwheel K.

It has been found that the best results of a gas-engine are produced when the explosive mixture is ignited at the instant of greatest compression and as the crank passes the center nearest the cylinder and the piston is ready for the outward stroke. If the piston starts on its stroke before the ignition, the compression is reduced and a great loss of energy is observable. When the engine is started and the parts are cold, it it necessary that the points of the electrical ignitors should be in the proper relation to explode the gas at the proper time; but when they become heated and elongated, if they are in line with each other, as in the case of rotary or oscillating wipers, the elongation causes them to break the connection so much later that the piston will have made a portion of its stroke before the explosion of the gas, and much power is lost. By my arrangement the stationary pin and the inclined propeller-like blade overlap or extend beyond a meeting-point, so that the edges of the blade and the sides of the pin engage with each other and no amountof longitudinal extension or contraction by heat or cold will alter the time of making the spark and the explosion of the charge.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An igniting device foragasengine, consisting of opposing fixed and movable electrodes whose meeting ends overlap, one of said electrodes being formed of a warped elastic plate adapted to yield upon contact with the opposing electrode and to sweep across the upper and lower surfaces of the said opposing electrode in planes transverse of its line of projection.

2. In a gas engine, the electrical igniting device consisting of a stationary insulated pin or finger connected with one of the electrodes, an insulated shaft with mechanism connecting it with the engine-shaft, whereby it is oscillated, and an elastic plate having a warped surface fixed to the inner end of said shaft and projecting toward and in line with the opposing electrode and beyond the plane of its end, whereby said elastic plate is adapted to sweep across the overlapping end of the opposing fixed electrode in planes at right angles to the line of projection of the fixed electrode on one of its oscillations and to return in like manner across the opposite face of the fixed electrode on the reverse oscillation, substantially as herein described.

3. In a gas-engine, acylinder, reciprocating piston, crank-shaft, an inlet-valve through which the explosive mixture is drawn by the movement of the piston, an independent spring-closed exhaust-valve, a cam-shaft and intermediate mechanism and a governor by which the exhaust-valve is opened and its movements regulated, an ignitor consisting of a fixed and an oscillating electrode, a crank upon the cam-shaft, and connections, substantially as described,betweenitand the movable electrode, and gearing upon the cam-shaft and the main engine shaft, whereby the exhaust-valve is opened and a spark produced by the ignitor at each second revolution of the main shaft.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

DANIEL BEST.

Witnesses:

W. S. PETERS, A. L. TOFFELMIER. 

